Communication systems and related methods for notifying devices having a plurality of unique identifiers about missed communications

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and methods for notifying a group of communication devices about a missed call are disclosed. Each communication device is associated with a group identifier that is shared with all the communication devices in a group. Each communication device is also associated with an individual identifier that is unique to that communication device. An unanswered communication to the group identifier is received on all the communication devices in the group. A first communication device transmits to a remote server an acknowledgement notification that the unanswered communication related to the group identifier has been acknowledged by the user. A clear indicator indicating that the unanswered communication has been acknowledged is transmitted from the remote server to all the devices in the group except the first communication device. Each of the communication devices receiving the clear indicator can then clear its indicator that notifies the user of a missed call.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/837,619, filed Mar. 15, 2013, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to operating a plurality ofcommunication devices as a group within a communication system. Moreparticularly, the disclosure relates to operation of video communicationdevices for the hearing impaired.

BACKGROUND

Video phone communication systems provide visual and audio communicationbetween two or more users during a communication session. A video phoneat a first location can transmit and receive audio and video signals toand from a video phone at a second location such that participants atthe first location are perceived to be present or face-to-face withparticipants at a second location and vice versa.

Video phone communication systems span a variety of applications. Onecontemplated application of a video phone system includes facilitizationof a communication session of a hearing-impaired user (e.g., deaf orhard of hearing), because many individuals with significant hearing lossare not able to communicate effectively over conventional telephonesystems that rely upon voice communications. The hearing-impaired usermay use a video phone during a communication session to relay his or herexpressions over the video phone communication system. Such video phonecommunication systems may facilitate communication sessions betweendifferent hearing-impaired users (e.g., video phone to video phonecommunication), or between a hearing-impaired user and a hearing-capableuser (e.g., video phone to voice phone communication), which may beassisted through a video relay service (VRS) that may provide aninterpretive (i.e., translation) service by providing a hearing-capabletranslator who relays the expressions of the hearing-impaired caller toa hearing-capable user on the other end of the communication session ina conventional manner, such as through the use of a voice-based dialogueconveyed over a conventional voice phone. The hearing-capable translatormay also translate the voice-based dialogue back to the hearing-impaireduser into expressions (e.g., American Sign Language (ASL)).

As a consequence of the recent proliferation of communication devices,many people own several communication devices capable of video calls.For example, a single user may have one or more video phones at home,one or more video phones at their place of employment, a smart phonedevice, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and/or a personalcomputer. The user may use some or all of these communication devicesfor video calls.

Conventionally, each of these communication devices are individuallymanaged and are associated with separate user accounts. As a result, auser of multiple communication devices may be required to keep track ofdifferent login credentials for each separate communication device. Inaddition, each individual communication device may have its own uniqueidentifier (e.g., phone number, IP address, or other similar identifierused by a specific system) that is used to make and receive video calls.As a result, users have the burden of informing others what the uniqueidentifiers are for each individual communication device so that othersmay contact them. Other people may also be inconvenienced by keepingtrack of several unique identifiers for the user when dialing a call toor receiving caller identification (caller ID) information from theuser's various communication devices.

Also, having a plurality of different communication devices may becomeburdensome for the user to maintain information among each of theircommunication devices. For example, if a user desires to block anundesired caller, change device or account settings, access messages, oradd new contacts to a directory on one of the communication devices, theaction may need to be repeated separately on each of the rest of thecommunication devices. Furthermore, if a video call is missed on one ofthe communication devices, the user often only becomes aware the missedcall only when the user is again in the proximity of that particularcommunication device.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the disclosure include a communication device including auser interface configured to present a missed call notification to auser indicating that the user has received an unanswered communicationto a group unique identifier and receive an indication from the userthat the unanswered communication has been acknowledged. Thecommunication device is configured to transmit an acknowledgementnotification to a remote server that the unanswered communicationrelated to the group unique identifier has been acknowledged. Thecommunication device is also configured to communicate with the remoteserver responsive to being addressed both with the group uniqueidentifier assigned to a user group that the communication devicebelongs to and an individual unique identifier assigned to thecommunication device.

Other embodiments include a server, including a memory configured forstoring computing instructions and a processor operably coupled to thememory and configured for executing the computing instructions. Thecomputing instructions cause the processor to associate a plurality ofcommunication devices with each other in a user group such that eachcommunication device of the plurality of communication devices isassociated with a group unique identifier that is shared with theplurality of communication devices of the user group and an individualunique identifier that is unique to that communication device. Thecomputing instructions also cause the processor to receive anacknowledgement notification from a first communication deviceindicating that the user has acknowledged a missed call notificationrelated to an unanswered communication to the group unique identifier onthe communication device. The computing instructions also cause theprocessor to transmit a clear indicator to all the plurality ofcommunication devices in the user group except the first communicationdevice, the clear indicator indicating that the missed call notificationhas been acknowledged.

Other embodiments include a method for notifying a plurality ofcommunication devices. The method includes receiving an unansweredcommunication to a group unique identifier on a plurality ofcommunication devices. Each communication device of the plurality ofcommunication devices is associated with the group unique identifierthat is shared with the plurality of communication devices of a usergroup and an individual unique identifier that is unique to thatcommunication device. The method also includes transmitting from a firstcommunication device of the plurality of communication devices to aremote server an acknowledgement notification that the unansweredcommunication related to the group unique identifier has beenacknowledged. The method also includes transmitting a clear indicatorfrom the remote server to all the plurality of communication devices inthe user group except the first communication device, the clearindicator indicating that the unanswered communication has beenacknowledged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a communication system accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a communication device accordingto some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a method for assigning a group uniqueidentifier to a user group according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a method for assigning a group uniqueidentifier to a user group according to another embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are data flow charts illustrating data flow between acommunication device, a profile server, and a database associated withthe profile server;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for adding a communication device to anew or existing user group;

FIG. 7 is a simplified depiction of graphical user interface indicatingelements that may be used in a missed call notification; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for managing a missed callnotification between a group of communication devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown byway of illustration, specific embodiments in which the disclosure may bepracticed. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail toenable those of ordinary skill in the art to practice the disclosure. Itshould be understood, however, that the detailed description and thespecific examples, while indicating examples of embodiments of thedisclosure, are given by way of illustration only and not by way oflimitation. From this disclosure, various substitutions, modifications,additions rearrangements, or combinations thereof within the scope ofthe disclosure may be made and will become apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art.

In accordance with common practice the various features illustrated inthe drawings may not be drawn to scale. The illustrations presentedherein are not meant to be actual views of any particular method,device, or system, but are merely idealized representations that areemployed to describe various embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly,the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily expanded orreduced for clarity. In addition, some of the drawings may be simplifiedfor clarity. Thus, the drawings may not depict all of the components ofa given apparatus (e.g., device) or all operations of a particularmethod.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the description may be represented byvoltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles,optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof. Some drawingsmay illustrate signals as a single signal for clarity of presentationand description. It should be understood by a person of ordinary skillin the art that the signal may represent a bus of signals, wherein thebus may have a variety of bit widths and the disclosure may beimplemented on any number of data signals including a single datasignal.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, andalgorithm acts described in connection with embodiments disclosed hereinmay be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and acts are described generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orsoftware depends upon the particular application and design constraintsimposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement thedescribed functionality in varying ways for each particular application,but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the embodiments of the disclosure describedherein.

In addition, it is noted that the embodiments may be described in termsof a process that is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, astructure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describeoperational acts as a sequential process, many of these acts can beperformed in another sequence, in parallel, or substantiallyconcurrently. In addition, the order of the acts may be re-arranged. Aprocess may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, asubroutine, a subprogram, etc. Furthermore, the methods disclosed hereinmay be implemented in hardware, software, or both. If implemented insoftware, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or moreinstructions (e.g., software code) on a computer-readable medium.Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media andcommunication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of acomputer program from one place to another.

It should be understood that any reference to an element herein using adesignation such as “first,” “second,” and so forth does not limit thequantity or order of those elements, unless such limitation isexplicitly stated. Rather, these designations may be used herein as aconvenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements orinstances of an element. Thus, a reference to first and second elementsdoes not mean that only two elements may be employed there or that thefirst element must precede the second element in some manner. Also,unless stated otherwise a set of elements may comprise one or moreelements.

Elements described herein may include multiple instances of the sameelement. These elements may be generically indicated by a numericaldesignator (e.g. 110) and specifically indicated by the numericalindicator followed by an alphabetic designator (e.g., 110A) or a numericindicator preceded by a “dash” (e.g., 110-1). For ease of following thedescription, for the most part, element number indicators begin with thenumber of the drawing on which the elements are introduced or most fullydiscussed. Thus, for example, element identifiers on a FIG. 1 will bemostly in the numerical format 1xx and elements on a FIG. 4 will bemostly in the numerical format 4xx.

Embodiments of the disclosure include ways to notify communicationdevices belonging to a group that a call has been missed as well as wayto clear that notification on all the devices in the group. As discussedabove, video communication systems span a variety of applications.Embodiments of the disclosure are generally described herein withreference to a video communication system for use by hearing-impairedusers. Such video communication systems may facilitate communicationsessions between different hearing-impaired users (e.g., video phone tovideo phone communication), or between a hearing-impaired user and ahearing-capable user (e.g., video phone to voice phone communication),which may be assisted through a video relay service (VRS). It should benoted, however, embodiments of the disclosure may include anyapplication or environment where notification about missed calls may behelpful or desirable. For example, it is contemplated that embodimentsof the disclosure may include video communication session betweenhearing-capable users.

The term “call” refers to a communication with a communication devicethat may be routed through a number of networks, such as, for example, aprivate network, the interne, a telephone system, and a VRS. The term“incoming call” refers to an incoming communication to a communicationdevice.

The term “communication device” may refer to a specific compilation ofhardware components, software components, or a combination thereof. Theterm “communication device” may also refer to a software basedcommunication device that exists on a device configured to executemachine-readable commands, such as, for example a computer. As software,it should be understood that the same communication device may exist ona first device while a user accesses the communication device on thefirst device, and on a second device at a different time while the useraccesses the communication device on the second device.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a communication system 100according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The communication system100 may include a plurality of communication devices 202A₁, 202A₂, . . .202A_(N), 202B₁, B₂, 202C (which are collectively referred to ascommunication devices 202). In some instances, reference may be made toan individual communication device by the generic designation ofreference numeral 202. The communication system 100 may further includeone or more servers 112, with which the communication devices 202communicate through one or more networks 110. In other words, thecommunication devices 202 may be configured to establish communicationwith the one or more servers 112 (also referred to simply as “servers”112) through the one or more networks 110 (also referred to simply as“networks” 110). The communication devices 202 may be configured tocommunicate with each other over a video call with the assistance of theservers 112 as described more fully below.

Each of the communication devices 202 may be assigned an individualunique identifier 130. In some instances, reference may be made to anindividual unique identifier by the general designation of referencenumeral 130. For example, communication devices 202A₁, 202A₂, . . .202A_(N) may respectively be assigned an individual unique identifier130A₁, 130A₂, . . . 130A_(N). In addition, the communication devices202B₁, 202B₂ may respectively be assigned an individual uniqueidentifier 130B₁, 130B₂. The communication device 202C may be assignedan individual unique identifier 130C. The individual unique identifier130 is, therefore, device-centric rather than user-centric orlocation-centric. In other words, an individual unique identifier 130may be associated with an individual communication device 202. Ingeneral, individual unique identifiers 130 are not shared by multiplecommunication devices 202. In some respects, an individual uniqueidentifier 130 may be similar to a telephone number. For example, theindividual unique identifier 130 may be used by other people to initiatevideo calls with the user of the communication device 202 associatedwith the individual unique identifier 130. In other respects, theindividual unique identifier 130 may be similar to an IP address. Forexample, the individual unique identifier 130 may be used to identifythe communication devices 202 to the servers 112. The individual uniqueidentifier 130 may have a numerical format, such as an IP address or aphone number (e.g., a seven digit number, a ten digit number includingan area code, etc.). The individual unique identifier 130 may have analphabetic format (e.g., a word, a phrase, etc.), an alphanumericalformat, or other suitable format used to uniquely identify an individualcommunication device 202. As another non-limiting example, theindividual unique identifier 130 may be a Media Access Control (MAC)address, which uniquely identifies a network interface of thecommunication device 202.

The communication devices 202 may also be associated with one or moreuser groups 120A, 120B (which are collectively referred to as usergroups 120). In some instances, reference may be made to an individualuser group by the generic designation of reference numeral 120. A usergroup 120 may be may be an association (i.e., grouping) of communicationdevices 202 that are defined as members of the user group 120, asdesired by a user. A user group 120 may be associated with any number ofcommunication devices 202 so long as there are at least twocommunication devices 202 grouped together by the user. By way ofnon-limiting example, communication devices 202A₁, 202A₂, . . . 202A_(N)may be associated with a first user group 120A. The first user group120A may be associated with a first user. Other communication devices202B₁, 202B₂ may be associated with a second user group 120B. The seconduser group 120B may be associated with a second user. The communicationsystem 100 may include communication devices 202 that may not beassociated, such as communication device 202C, may not be associatedwith any user group.

The user groups 120A, 120B may respectively be assigned a group uniqueidentifier 140A, 140B (which are collectively referred to as groupunique identifiers 140). The group unique identifiers 140 are unique toa group rather than to an individual communication device 202. In otherwords, the group unique identifiers 140 are group-centric, such that thegroup unique identifiers 140 are not shared by other user groups 120.Therefore, individual communication devices 202 may be associated withboth an individual unique identifier 130 and a group unique identifier140. For example, a first communication device 202A₁ may be associatedwith the individual unique identifier 130A₁ and the group uniqueidentifier 140A. Likewise, a second communication device 202A2 may beassociated with the individual unique identifier 130A₂ and the groupunique identifier 140A. Thus, because the first communication device202A₁ and the second communication device 202A₂ are part of the sameuser group 120A, the first communication device 202A₁ and the secondcommunication device 202A₂ share the same group unique identifier 140A(but not individual unique identifiers 130A₁, 130A₂). Other user groups(e.g., user group 120B) may be similarly configured.

A call may be initiated to the communication devices 202 by beingaddressed by either its individual unique identifier 130 or its groupunique identifier 140. For example, if a person (e.g., the second user)calls the first user by entering the individual unique identifier 130A₁,only the individual communication device 202A₁ may indicate an incomingcall. If, however, a person calls the first user by entering the groupunique identifier 140A assigned to the first user group 120A, each ofthe communication devices 202A₁, 202A₂, . . . 202A_(N) of the first usergroup 120A may indicate an incoming call. An incoming call may beindicated visually, tactilely, audibly, or some other suitableindication, and combinations thereof. For hearing-impaired users, anincoming call may be indicated visually, tactilely, and combinationsthereof.

As discussed above, the communication devices 202 may be associated witha user group 120 as desired by the user. In other words, the reasons forgrouping the communication devices 202 within a particular user group120 may be determined by the user acting as a group organizer, ratherthan any particular limitation. For example, each communication device202 belonging to a user group 120 need not be located in close proximityto each other. By way of non-limiting example, a single user group 120may include a communication device 202 stationed at a user's dwelling, acommunication device 202 at the user's place of employment, acommunication device 202 at the user's cabin, and a portablecommunication device 202 that may be carried anywhere. It should also beunderstood that two or more communication devices 202 from the same usergroup 120 may be located proximate to each other. By way of non-limitingexample, two or more communication devices 202 from the same user group120 may be stationed in various locations of the user's home, such as inthe living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, etc.

In addition, the communication devices 202 associated with a single usergroup 120 may belong to two or more users. By way of non-limitingexample, communication devices 202 belonging to friends, family members,co-workers, and/or roommates may be part of a single user group 120. Asa result, the user acting as the group organizer may invite others tojoin one or more of their communication devices 202 to join his group.For example, a user group 120 may be a group of co-workers within a teamor practice group, such as a technical support team.

A single user group 120 may also include several different types ofcommunication devices 202. By way of non-limiting example, an individualuser group 120 may include any one or more of a personal computer, asmart phone, a tablet computer, and a video phone. In addition, a singleuser group 120 may include multiple communication devices from the samedevice type. For example, an individual user group 120 may have aplurality of video phones within the same individual user group 120.Furthermore, a single user group 120 may include any number ofcommunication devices 202, limited only by the capacity of thecommunication system 100, and/or a desire to limit services to usergroups 120 of a predetermined number of communication devices 202. Byway of non-limiting example, administrators of a communication system100 may choose to limit the number of communication devices 202 that agroup organizer may be allowed to include within single user group 120to a maximum number (e.g., five, six, etc.) of allowed communicationdevices 202.

The communication devices 202 may be configured to enable a user toparticipate in video calls with the other communication devices 202 ofthe communication system 100. A “video call” refers to communicationswhere real-time or quasi real-time video data is exchanged between atleast two parties. A video call may also refer to an attemptedinitiation of a real-time or quasi real-time video data exchange. Forexample, a first user using a first communication device 202A₁ maycommunicate with one or more other users using any of the othercommunication devices 202A₂, . . . 202A_(N) associated with the firstuser group 120A, the communication devices 202B₁, 202B₂ associated withthe second user group 120B, another communication device 202C notassociated with a user group 120, and combinations thereof.

Any one of a variety of communication devices 202 may be configured toplace and receive video calls, in part, because advancements incommunication device technology have substantially increased thequantity, variety, and affordability of communication devices. By way ofnon-limiting example, the communication devices 202 may include any of avideo phone, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, asmart phone, and other suitable devices. Examples of a video phoneinclude the NTOUCH® VP video phone and the VP-200 video phone availablefrom SORENSON COMMUNICATIONS® of Salt Lake City, Utah. More device-leveldetail on the communication devices 202 is discussed below withreference to FIG. 2.

The networks 110 may include an internet protocol network configured totransmit communications between each of the plurality of communicationdevices 202 and the servers 112, such as by using an Internet protocol(IP). The networks 110 may include a wide area network (WAN), a localarea network (LAN), a personal area network (PAN), and combinationsthereof. In some embodiments, the servers 112 may be part of a cloudnetwork. The networks 110 may be configured to communicate with theplurality of communication devices 202 and the servers 112 wirelessly,through a cable, and combinations thereof. Some non-limiting examples ofsuitable wireless communications may include “wife,” Bluetooth, andmobile wireless networks. Some non-limiting examples of suitable cablesinclude fiber-optic cables, coaxial cables, traditional telephonecables, and Ethernet cables.

The servers 112 may be configured to provide services to thecommunication devices 202. For example, the servers 112 may beconfigured to manage calling functions, such as video call sessions andmessages for the communication devices 202 of the communication system100. In addition, the servers 112 may store and manage accountinformation for the communication devices 202. Account information mayinclude address books, account billings, and other informationcorresponding to the communication device 202 associated with theindividual unique identifier 130. As non-limiting examples, the servers112 may include a call routing server 114 and a profile server 116.Although discussed herein separately, the call routing server 114 andthe profile server 116 may optionally be implemented as a single serverdevice. Likewise, both the call routing server 114 and the profileserver 116 may optionally include multiple server devices, and thevarious functions of the call routing server 114 and the profile server116 may not necessarily be isolated to separate devices.

The call routing server 114 may be configured to set up and control avideo call between one or more of the plurality of communication devices202 and another of the plurality of communication devices 202, or acommunication device associated with another user (not shown). The callrouting server 114 may be configured to establish and control the videocall through, for example, a session initiation protocol (SIP), or othersuitable protocol.

The call routing server 114 may also periodically receive communicationsfrom each of the plurality of communication devices 202, includinglocation or contact information, so that the call routing server 114 maylocate and setup video call sessions with the communication devices 202as needed. Also, the call routing server 114 may cause a particularcommunication device 202 to indicate an incoming call responsive toanother person entering the individual unique identifier 130 assigned tothe particular communication device 202. Furthermore, when the userenters the individual unique identifier 130 associated with anothercommunication device 202 from one of the plurality of communicationdevices 202, the call routing server 114 may arrange for an outgoingcall to be sent to the communication device 202 with the enteredindividual unique identifier 130 assigned thereto. In addition, when theuser enters the group unique identifier 140 associated with a user group120, the call routing server 114 may arrange for an outgoing call to besent to each of the communication devices 202 associated with theentered group unique identifier 140 assigned thereto.

The profile server 116 may be configured to manage one or more useraccounts associated with the individual unique identifiers 130. In someembodiments, the profile server 116 may also be configured to storeinformation associated with each user account within the communicationsystem 100. By way of non-limiting example, the profile server 116 maybe configured to store an address book, a blocked caller list, a messagehistory, text messages, video messages, a call history, personal userinformation, and combinations thereof, associated with each useraccount. In other embodiments, each of the communication devices 202 maybe configured to store the information associated with the user accountcorresponding to the individual unique identifier 130 assigned thereto.

The servers 112 may be configured to enable the communication devices202 to be associated with a user group 120. The user group 120 may, insome respects, function similarly to a separate communication device102. For example, the user group 120 may be assigned a group uniqueidentifier 140 and be associated with corresponding group account andgroup information, such as a group blocked caller list, a group messagehistory, group text messages, group video messages, a group callhistory, a group address book (i.e., contact list), and combinationsthereof, which may be stored on the profile server 116. Accessing anycommunication device 202 in the user group 120 may enable the user toaccess the group information, and communicate through the networks 110using the group unique identifier 140 assigned to the user group 120. Insome embodiments, group information may simply be a matter of theservers 112 being able to access individual communication deviceinformation that is stored for each communication device 202 to beshared with other communication devices 202 of the user group 120.

In some embodiments, where activity performed on a second communicationdevice 202A₂ causes changes to the group information, the profile server116 may communicate the changes in group information to the rest of theplurality of communication devices 202 belonging to the user group 120.Each of the plurality of communication devices 202 may be configured toperiodically enter communication with the profile server 116 to receiveupdates. By way of non-limiting example, each of the plurality ofcommunication devices 202 may be configured to enter communication withthe profile server 116 approximately every five minutes (or otherperiodic interval) to receive updates. In some embodiments, updates maybe event-driven such that certain events may cause the profile server116 to broadcast updates to one or more of the communication devices202. Initiation of these information updates and synchronizations may beperformed by the servers 112 or the communication devices 202.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 that is the creator ofthe user group 120 may have its information (e.g., lists) serve as thebasis for the shared group information (e.g., shared lists). Asdiscussed above, shared lists may include a blocked caller list, a groupmessage history, group text messages, group video messages, a group callhistory, a group address book (i.e., contact list). As a result, each ofthese group lists may be shared and accessible (for viewing, editing,adding to, etc.) by each communication device 202. If a shared grouplist is changed, the change may be saved within the profile server 116.In addition, the profile server 116 may broadcast a notification to eachof the communication devices 202 within the user group 120 that a changehas been made to the shared group lists and that their local cache needsto be updated. The individual communication devices 202 may respond(e.g., either immediately or at their next scheduled interval) toreceive the updated information to store in their local cache. Inaddition, there may be shared settings among group members that may beedited and shared in a similar manner. For example, shared settings mayinclude the number of rings that occur before going to voice mail, acommon voice mail message that is applied to all communication devices202 rather than each communication device 202 having its own, amongother similar settings.

In some embodiments, the profile server 116 and/or the individualcommunication devices 202 may retain a prior version of their individuallists and settings that existed before they joined the user group 120.As a result, when a communication device 202 leaves the user group 120,the communication device 202 may no longer have access to the sharedgroup lists and settings and their lists may revert back to theindividual state that the communication device maintained prior tojoining the user group 120.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a computing device. Thecomputing device may be a communication device 202 according to someembodiments of the disclosure. The computing device may also be a server112 according to some embodiments of the disclosure. The computingsystem, whether a server 112 or a communication device 202 will bereferred to in the description of FIG. 2 as a communication device 202.The communication device 202 may be one of the communication devices 202shown in FIG. 1. The communication device 202 may include a controldevice 204 operably coupled to a camera 206, a transceiver 218, and auser interface 222. The control device 204 may include at least aprocessor 226 and a memory device 228. The processor 226 may beconfigured to execute commands stored on the memory device 228. By wayof non-limiting example, the memory device 228 may include a computerreadable media, such as, read only memory (ROM), random access memory(RAM), Flash memory, and combinations thereof. The control device 204may be configured to control the camera 206, and the user interface 222.In addition, the control device 204 may be configured to cause thetransceiver 218 to transmit and receive data through the networks 110.

The camera 206 may include devices capable of capturing and convertingvisual images to data, as will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art. By way of non-limiting example, the camera may include awebcam, a camcorder device, a camera device integrated into the sameenclosure as the control device 204, and other suitable devices. Thecamera 206 may be operably coupled to the control device 204 andconfigured to deliver the data to the control device 204.

The user interface 222 may include an input device 224 and an outputdevice 208 operably coupled to the control device 204. By way ofnon-limiting example, the input device 224 may include a keyboard, anumerical keypad, a mouse, a touch-screen, a button array, a track pad,a remote control, motion sensors, orientation sensors, position sensors,a microphone, and combinations thereof. The input device 224 may beconfigured to receive commands from the user. Also by way ofnon-limiting example, the output device 208 may include any of alight-emitting diode (LED) array, a segmented display, a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display, a plasma display, and otherelectronic displays. The output device 208 may also include otherperipheral output devices, such as speakers and vibrators. In someembodiments, the input device 224 and the output device 208 may beintegrated in the same device, such as, for example, a touch-screendisplay. In other embodiments, the input device 224 and the outputdevice 208 may be implemented in separate devices, such as a keyboardand an LCD monitor, respectively.

The control device 204 may cause the output device 208 to display videoimages received as data at the transceiver 218 during a video call. Thecontrol device 204 may also cause the output device 208 to displayoptions on the output device 208, such as through a graphical userinterface displayed on the output device 208. In addition, the controldevice 204 may execute user commands received by the input device 224.

The user interface 222 may enable the user of the communication device202 to take several types of actions. Some of these actions may includelogging in to the communication device 202 as a specific user, creatinga new user group 120, inviting another communication device 202 to joina user group 120, withdrawing a communication device 202 from the usergroup 120, place a video call to another communication device 202,accept an incoming call from another communication device 202, accessaccount information associated with the communication device 202, accessaccount information associated with a user group 120 with which thecommunication device 202 is associated, etc.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a method for assigning a group uniqueidentifier 140 to a user group 120 according to an embodiment of thedisclosure. In particular, the first group 120A (FIG. 1) may receive agroup unique identifier 140A to be associated with each of thecommunication devices 202 (FIG. 1) that are members of the first group120A. As depicted in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the group unique identifier 140Amay be a completely new identifier that was not previously an individualunique identifier 130A₁, 130A₂, 130A_(N) that is associated with one ofthe communication of the first user group 120A.

For example, the first user may decide to group together a plurality ofcommunication devices 202, wherein each of the plurality ofcommunication devices 202 have already been assigned their ownindividual unique identifiers 130. For example, the first communicationdevice 202A₁ is associated with the first individual unique identifier130A₁ of “0001,” the second communication device 202A₂ is associatedwith the second individual unique identifier 130A₂ of “0002,” and theNth communication device 202A_(N) is associated with the Nth individualunique identifier 130A_(N) of “0003.”

As depicted in FIG. 3A, when the first user group 120A is created, thegroup unique identifier 140A may be unassigned. As depicted in FIG. 3B,the first user group 120A may be assigned a new group unique identifier140A that was not previously assigned to any communication device 202 ofthe newly formed user group 120A. In other words, when the first usergroup 120A is created, the first user group 120A may be initialized witha new individual unique identifier 130A₁ assigned thereto. For example,the group unique identifier 140A assigned to the user group 120A is“0004.” The four digit unique identifiers 130, 140 are illustrated as asimple example of a unique identifier. As discussed above, the uniqueidentifiers 130, 140 may be a telephone number, IP address, or othersuitable identifier.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a method for assigning a group uniqueidentifier 140 to a user group 120 according to another embodiment ofthe disclosure. In particular, the first group 120A (FIG. 1) may receivea group unique identifier 140A to be associated with each of thecommunication devices 202 (FIG. 1) that are members of the first group120A. As depicted in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the group unique identifier 140Amay be a selected from an existing individual unique identifier 130Athat was previously an individual unique identifier 130A₁, 130A₂,130A_(N) that is associated with one of the communication of the firstuser group 120A.

For example, in some embodiments, the group unique identifier 140Aassigned to the user group 120A may be selected from among theindividual unique identifiers 130A₁, 130A₂, . . . 130A_(N) that are partof the user group 120A. For example, the individual unique identifier130A₁ of the first communication device 202A₁ may be “promoted” to bethe group unique identifier 140A for the first user group 120A. As aresult, the individual unique identifier 130A₁ (“0001”) previouslyassociated with the first communication device 202A₁ may be “sacrificed”and becomes the unique identifier 140A for the first user group 120A. Insome embodiments, another individual unique identifier 130A₁ (“0004”)may be assigned to the first communication device 202A₁ so that thefirst communication device 202A₁ may remain associated with both theindividual unique identifier 130A₁ and the group unique identifier 140Aassociated with the first user group 120A.

When a user group 120 is established, the information (contacts, blockedcalls, etc.) associated with the individual communication devices 202may become group information (i.e., accessible through the othercommunication devices 202 of the user group 120), as desired by theuser. In some embodiments involving a user group 120 initiated throughpromotion of an existing individual unique identifier 130 to become thegroup unique identifier 140 associated with the user group 120, only theinformation for that individual communication device 202 (e.g.,communication device 202A₁) may be promoted to be group information.

Even though the establishment of the user group 120A is described withreference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B in terms of assigning the groupunique identifier 140A to a newly established user group 120A, similarmethods may be used to change the group unique identifier 140 after theuser group 120 has been established. Therefore, the group uniqueidentifier 140 assigned to the user group 120 may be changed byassigning a completely new group unique identifier 140 to the user group120. In addition, the group unique identifier 140 may be changed bypromoting one of the individual unique identifiers 130 to be the newgroup unique identifier 140 assigned to the user group 120, which maycause that a new individual unique identifier 130 be assigned to thecorresponding communication device 202. In addition, the group uniqueidentifier 140 associated with the user group 120 may be “demoted.” Inother words, the group unique identifier 140 assigned to the user group120 may once again become associated with a corresponding firstcommunication device 202, and a new group unique identifier 140 may beassigned (e.g., new issuance, promotion, etc.) to the user group 120, orthe user group 120 may be dissolved.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are data flow charts 530, 548 illustrating data flowbetween a communication device 202, a profile server 116, and a database560 associated with the profile server 116. FIG. 5A illustrates dataflow resulting from communication device 202 logging in with individualcredentials associated with the communication device to access accountinformation. FIG. 5B illustrates data flow resulting from thecommunication device 202 logging in with group credentials associatedwith a user group 120 to access account information, the communicationdevice 202 belonging to the user group 120.

The database 560 may be configured to store individual accountinformation corresponding to the communication device 202 and groupaccount information corresponding to a user group 120 (FIG. 1) to whichthe communication device 202 belongs. Individual account information mayinclude valid individual log in credentials (also referred to herein as“individual credentials”), user information, and individualcommunication device 202 information associated with the communicationdevice 202. Group account information may include valid group log incredentials (also referred to herein as “group credentials”), userinformation, and group information associated with the user group. Thegroup account information may also include information corresponding toa plurality of communication devices 202 that belong to the user group120.

Referring to FIG. 5A, the user of the communication device 202 mayprovide individual credentials through the user interface 222 (FIG. 2)of the communication device 202. By way of non-limiting example, theindividual credentials may be a user name and password. In someembodiments, the user name may be the individual unique identifier 130assigned to the communication device 202. Other individual credentials,such as for example a user selected user name, are also contemplated.

At operation 532, the communication device 202 may send the individualcredentials through the networks 110 (FIG. 1) to the profile server 116.At operation 534, the profile server 116 may send a validation requestto the database 560 to validate the individual credentials provided bythe user against the valid individual credentials stored in the database560.

At operation 536, the database 560 may send a success/failure signal tothe profile server 116 indicating either success or failure of the login attempted by the user of the communication device 202. If theindividual credentials provided by the user of the communication device202 do not match those stored in the database 560, then thesuccess/failure signal sent to the profile server 116 may indicatefailure of the log in attempt. As a result, the user may not be givenaccess to account information. If, on the other hand, the log incredentials provided by the user of the communication device 202 matchthose stored on the database 560, the success/failure signal sent to theprofile server 116 may indicate a successful log in attempt. As aresult, the user may be given access to the individual accountinformation.

In some embodiments, the profile server 116 may also cause thecommunication device to give the user access to the group accountinformation along with the individual account information if thecommunication device 202 belongs to the user group 120. If, however, thecommunication device 202 is not associated with the user group 120, thenthe profile server 116 may cause the communication device 202 to onlyaccess the individual account information. In other embodiments, loggingin with the individual credentials may exclude the communication device202 from accessing the group account information regardless of whetherthe communication device 202 belongs to the user group.

If the log in attempt succeeds, at operation 538 the profile server 116may query the database 560 to determine whether the communication device202 belongs to a user group 120. At operation 540, the database 560 maysend the group account information to the profile server 116 if thecommunication device 202 is part of the user group 120. If, on the otherhand, the communication device 202 is not part of the user group 120,the database 560 may only send the individual account information, andnot the group account information.

The profile server 116 may create a session and cause a sessionidentifier to be stored on the database 560 at operation 542. Atoperation 544, the database may send the session identifier to theprofile server 116. At operation 546, the profile server 116 may sendthe session identifier through the networks 110 to the communicationdevice 202, and the user may operate the communication device 202 asboth the communication device 202 and the user group 120 if thecommunication device 202 belongs to the user group 120, and only as thecommunication device 202 if the communication device 202 does not belongto the user group 120.

Referring to FIG. 5B, the user of the communication device 202 mayprovide group credentials through the user interface 222 (FIG. 2) of thecommunication device 202. The group credentials may include a user nameand password. In some embodiments, the user name may be the group uniqueidentifier 140 assigned to the communication device 202. Other groupcredentials, such as for example a user selected username, are alsocontemplated.

At operation 550, the communication device 202 may send the groupcredentials through the networks 110 (FIG. 1) to the profile server 116.At operation 552, the profile server 116 may send a validation requestto the database 560 to validate the group credentials provided by theuser against the valid group credentials stored in the database 560.

At operation 554, the database 560 may send a success/failure signal tothe profile server 116 indicating either success or failure of the login attempted by the user of the communication device 202. If the groupcredentials provided by the user of the communication device 202 do notmatch those stored in the database 560, then the success/failure signalsent to the profile server 116 may indicate failure of the log inattempt. As a result, the user may not be given access to accountinformation. If, on the other hand, the group credentials provided bythe user of the communication device 202 match those stored on thedatabase 560, the success/failure signal sent to the profile server 116may indicate a successful log in attempt. As a result, the user may begiven access to the group account information.

If the log in attempt succeeds, at operation 556 the profile server 116may query the database 560 to determine whether the communication device202 belongs to a user group 120. At operation 558, the database 560 maysend the group account information to the profile server 116 if thecommunication device 202 is part of the user group 120. If on the otherhand, the communication device 202 is not part of the user group 120,the database 560 may not send the group account information.

Once the user succeeds in logging in with group credentials, atoperation 596 the profile server 116 may attempt to determine whichindividual account information to give the communication device 202access to along with the group account information. If the profileserver 116 succeeds in determining which individual account informationto provide, the profile server 116 may create a session and cause asession identifier to be stored on the database 560 at operation 598. Atoperation 501, the database may send the session identifier to theprofile server 116. At operation 503, the profile server 116 may sendthe session identifier through the networks 110 to the communicationdevice 202, and the user may operate the communication device 202 asboth the communication device 202 and the user group 120.

Returning to operation 596, if the profile server cannot determine whichindividual account information to provide to the user, at operation 505the profile server may send the group account information to thecommunication device 202 and query the user to indicate which individualaccount information to provide. At operation 507, the user may indicatethe individual account information that should be provided, and theindication may be sent to the profile server 116. At operation 509, theprofile server may create a session, and cause a session identifier tobe stored in the database 560. The database 560 may send the sessionidentifier to the profile server 116 at operation 511, and the profileserver 116 may send the session identifier through the networks 110 tothe communication device 202 at operation 513. The user may then operatethe communication device 202 as both the communication device 202 andthe user group 120. As a result, using a group unique identifier 140 tolog in may also cause the communication device 202 to communicate withthe one or more servers 112 responsive to being addressed by theindividual unique identifier 130 assigned to the communication device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 662 of a method for adding a communication device202 (FIGS. 1 and 2) to a new or existing user group 120. At operation664, the user interface 222 (FIG. 2) may display a welcome screen to auser of the communication device 202. At operation 668, the userinterface 222 may display an option to join a user group 120 (FIG. 1).If the user rejects the option to join a user group 120, at operation672 the user interface 222 may display a cancel screen, and at operation688 the method may end. If the user accepts the option to join a usergroup 120, at operation 670 the user interface 222 may provide an optionto create a new user group 120.

If the option to create a new user group 120 is accepted, at operation676 the user interface 222 may display an agreement delineating anyterms required for creating the new user group 120, and an opportunityis provided to accept or reject the agreement. If the agreement isrejected, at operation 672 the user interface 222 may display the cancelscreen, and at operation 688 the method may end. If, on the other hand,the agreement is accepted, at operation 680 the user interface 222 mayprompt the user to set group credentials, including, for example, agroup unique identifier 140 (FIG. 1) and a password. At operation 684the user interface 222 may prompt the user to add other communicationdevices 202 to the new user group 120. The profile server 116 (FIG. 2)may send invitations to join the new user group 120 to any communicationdevices 202 added by the user. At operation 686, the user interface 222may provide the user an option to activate the new user group 120. Ifthe user elects to activate the new user group 120, the new user group120 may be activated, and at operation 688 the method may end. If theuser elects not to activate the new user group 120, at operation 672 thecancel screen may be displayed, and at operation 688, the method mayend.

If the option to create a new user group 120 is denied, the userinterface 222 may prompt the user to enter existing user group 120credentials at operation 674. At operation 678, if the credentials arenot correct, the user interface 222 may once again prompt the user toenter existing user group 120 credentials at operation 674. At operation678, if the credentials are correct. the communication device 202 may beadded to the existing user group 120 at operation 682. At operation 688the method may end.

In embodiments of the disclosure, when a customer receives a missed call(also referred to herein as an unanswered communication), their group ofphones will all display that the call was missed. When one of the phonesin the group clears the missed call notifications, all phones in thegroup will also clear the missed call notification. In other words, agroup of separate phones owned by a customer that have different phonenumbers get a call on their shared number, the customer can go to any oftheir phones in the group to see that they missed a call. In addition,when they clear the missed call notification on one of the phones in thegroup, they do not have to go to each of the phones in the group toclear the notification on them, as well.

FIG. 7 is a simplified depiction of graphical user interface 700indicating elements that may be used in a missed call notification. Indescribing FIG. 7, reference is also made to FIG. 1. A missed callnotification element 702 may be used to notify the user that a call wasnot answered. This missed call may be to the individual uniqueidentifiers (e.g., 130A₁, 130A₂ in FIG. 1) or to the group uniqueidentifier (e.g., 140A in FIG. 1). When the missed call is to anindividual unique identifier, only the communication device 202 with theindividual unique identifier will activate its missed call notificationelement 702. However, when the missed call is to the group uniqueidentifier 140A all the communication devices in the user group willactivate their missed call notification element 702.

An acknowledge missed call element 704 is included on the user interface700. The user can select the acknowledge missed call element 704 on agiven communication device 202 and that communication device 202 willclear its missed call notification element 702. However, the othercommunication devices 202 in the user group 120A still have the missedcall notification element 702 activated. It is inconvenient for the userto have to go to each communication device 202 in the user group 120A toclear the missed call notification element 702 on those communicationdevices 202. Embodiments of the disclosure provide a way toautomatically clear those missed call notification element 702 on theother communication devices 202.

A missed call count 706 may also be included on the user interface 700.This missed call count may be incremented each time a new missed call isreceived and may be decremented each time a missed call is acknowledgedeither by the user on that specific device or through the automaticmethod described below.

An information element 710 may be included to provide additionalinformation about the missed call, such as, for example, a caller idwith an identification of a phone number or other identifier, a name ofthe caller, a picture of the caller, or access to a message left by thecaller. The message left by the caller may be in the form of a voicemessage or a video message. In some embodiments, the missed call list708 and the information element 710 may be maintained and updatedseparately from the missed call notification element 702. As a result,even after the missed call notification elements 702 have been clearedon all the communication devices in the group, the user can stillretrieve information about any of the calls in the missed call list 708on any of the communication devices 202 in the user group 140A.

Moreover, the missed call notification 702, the missed call count 706,and the missed call list 708 may combine missed voice calls and missedvideo calls. Alternatively there may be one set of the missed callnotification 702, the missed call count 706, and the missed call list708 for voice calls and another set of the missed call notification 702,the missed call count 706, and the missed call list 708 for video calls.Also, in some embodiments, the missed call count 706, the missed calllist 708, and the information about selected missed calls 710 may not bepresent or may be navigated to on separated graphical user interfaces.

In addition, the missed call notification 702 need not be on a displayof the communication device 202. It could be any suitable means ofnotifying the user, such as a vibration, a flashing light, or aconfiguration of flashing lights.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for managing a missed callnotification between a group of communication devices. In describingFIG. 7, reference is also made to FIG. 1. A first process 800 occurs onone of the communication devices that the user uses to acknowledge themissed call. For convenience, this communication device 202 will bereferred to as the first communication device. A second process 820occurs on a server 112 that the communication devices 202 in the usergroup 120A communicate with. As a non-limiting example the server may bethe profile server 116 described above. A third process 840 occurs onall the other communication devices 202 in the group except the firstcommunication device. Thus, in FIG. 1, if the first communication deviceis device 202A₁, then all the other communication devices would bedevices 202A₂ through 202A_(N).

First, at operation 802, an unanswered call is received. For embodimentsof the disclosure this would be a call to the group unique identifier140A. While illustrated in the first process, this call goes to all thecommunication devices 202 in the user group 120A. It is assumed that thecall to the group unique identifier 140A is not answered on any of thecommunication devices 202 in the user group 120A.

At operation 804, the missed call notification element 702 (FIG. 7) isactivated. Once again, this operation will occur on all thecommunication devices 202 in the user group 120A. At operation 806, theuser acknowledges the missed call on the first communication device202A₁. The user can do this by selecting the acknowledge missed callelement 704 (FIG. 7).

At operation 808, the first communication device 202A₁ sends anacknowledgment notification to the server 112 indicating that the missedcall has been acknowledged on the first communication device 202A₁. Atoperation 810, the first communication device 202A₁ may clear its missedcall notification element 702.

The second process 820 on the server 112 begins when the server receivesthe acknowledgment notification from the first communication device202A₁. At operation 822, the server sets an indicator that the missedcall has been acknowledged and needs to be distributed to othercommunication devices in the user group 120A. At operation 824 theserver 112 waits for an attention items query from a communicationdevice 202 in the user group 120A.

Embodiments of the disclosure operate on a process of periodic queriesby the communication devices 202. This periodic query process isreferred to herein as a heartbeat. Each communication device maintainsits own heartbeat (e.g., a heartbeat every 10 seconds). When theheartbeat occurs, the communication device 202 sends the attention itemsquery to the server 112 asking if there are any items that need theattention of that particular communication device 202. The server 112responds to the attention items query with an attention desiredindicator, which can indicate that the server 112 has some items for thecommunication device 202 to consider or there are no items to considerat this heartbeat.

When the communication device 202 receives a positive attention itemsquery, it follows up with a query for a list of the attention items.When the server 112 receives this query, it sends the communicationdevice 202 a list of any items that the communication device may need toact upon.

Thus, in the third process 840 at operation 842, each of thecommunication devices 202 sends an attention items query to the serverat the time of its particular heartbeat. In response, at operation 826,the server 112 sends an attention desired indicator to the communicationdevice 202 that has sent the request. In embodiments of the disclosure,this indicator would be positive at least because there is anacknowledgement of the missed call waiting to be sent to thecommunication device 202.

At operation 844, the communication device 202 receives the positiveattention desired indicator and responds with a query for the list ofattention items at operation 846. Meanwhile, the server 112 may be inoperation 828 waiting for the query for the list of attention items.Once received, at operation 830, the server 112 sends the list ofattention items to the communication device 202. This list is receivedat the communication device 202 at operation 848. The list includes aclear indicator, which indicates that the missed call notificationelement 702 can be cleared on that communication device. Of course, thelist of attention items may include other items for the communicationdevice to act upon.

At operation 850, the communication device 202 clears its missed callnotification element 702 and the process is complete for thatcommunication device 202. However, other communication devices 202 inthe user group 120A may not have yet had a heartbeat and have not,therefore, cleared their missed call notification element 702.

Decision 832 tests to see if there are other communication devices 202in the user group 120A that still need to be notified. If not, theprocess ends and the server 112 can clear its indicator that there is amissed call acknowledgement to distribute. If so, control returns tooperation 824 where the server 112 waits for an attention items queryfrom another communication device 202 in the user group 120A, which willoccur on the next heartbeat of that communication device 202.

While certain illustrative embodiments have been described in connectionwith the figures, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize andappreciate that embodiments encompassed by the disclosure are notlimited to those embodiments explicitly shown and described herein.Rather, many additions, deletions, and modifications to the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the scope ofembodiments encompassed by the disclosure, such as those hereinafterclaimed, including legal equivalents. In addition, features from onedisclosed embodiment may be combined with features of another disclosedembodiment while still being encompassed within the scope of embodimentsencompassed by the disclosure as contemplated by the inventors.

What is claimed is:
 1. A video communication device specificallyconfigured for use by a hearing-impaired user, the video communicationdevice comprising: a processor operably coupled with an electronicdisplay, the processor configured to: receive an incoming video callresponsive to the incoming video call being placed to a group uniqueidentifier assigned to a user group in which each of the videocommunication devices of the user group receive the incoming call from acall routing server; present a first missed call notification to a userthrough a user interface of the video communication device indicatingthat the incoming video call was unanswered by the video communicationdevices of the user group including the plurality of additionalcommunication devices and the video communication device; clear themissed call notification from the user interface responsive to:receiving a first clear indicator responsive to the first missed callnotification being acknowledged at the video communication device; andreceiving a second clear indicator from a remote server responsive tothe unanswered first incoming video call being acknowledged at at leastone of the additional video communication devices; transmit anacknowledgement notification to the remote server indicating that theunanswered first incoming video call related to the group uniqueidentifier has been acknowledged at the video communication device forthe remote server to distribute clear indicators to the additionalcommunication devices of the user group to clear their correspondingmissed call notifications in thereto; and receive a second incomingvideo call from the call routing server responsive to the secondincoming video call being placed to an individual unique identifierassigned only to the video communication device and not the user group;present a second missed call notification to the user through the userinterface of the video communication device indicating that the secondincoming video call was unanswered by the video communication device;receive a third clear indicator if the unanswered second incoming videocall has been acknowledged by the video communication device; and clearthe second missed call notification from the user interface responsiveto receiving the third clear indicator without informing the remoteserver to clear any second missed call notifications to the additionalvideo communication devices of the user group.
 2. The videocommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to query the remote server for receiving the second clearindicator.
 3. The video communication device of claim 2, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: transmit an attention items query tothe remote server; perform the query of the remote server afterreceiving an attention desired indicator from the remote server inresponse to the attention items query from the video communicationdevice.
 4. The video communication device of claim 2, wherein theprocessor is further configured to retrieve other information related tothe unanswered first incoming video call that is retrievable by anyvideo communication devices belonging to the user group before and afterthe second clear indicator is received by the video communicationdevice.
 5. The video communication device of claim 4, wherein the otherinformation includes an identification of a person, a callingcommunication device, or a combination thereof.
 6. The videocommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to maintain and display a first counter to indicateadditional missed call notifications for additional unanswered incomingcalls.
 7. The video communication device of claim 6, wherein theadditional unanswered incoming calls includes at least one voicecommunication.
 8. The video communication device of claim 6, wherein theadditional unanswered incoming calls includes at least one videocommunication.
 9. A method of providing a missed call notification for avideo communication device, the method comprising: notifying a user ofan unanswered communication with a missed call notification element ofthe video communication device indicating an unanswered communication toa group unique identifier assigned to a user group including the videocommunication device and a plurality of additional video communicationdevices; clearing the missed call notification element from the userinterface responsive to: receiving a first clear indicator if theunanswered call is acknowledged at the video communication device; andreceiving a second clear indicator from a remote server if theunanswered call is acknowledged by at least one of the additionalcommunication devices; transmitting an acknowledgement notification tothe remote server indicating that the unanswered first incoming videocall related to the group unique identifier has been acknowledged at thevideo communication device for the remote server to distribute clearindicators to the additional communication devices of the user group toclear their corresponding missed call notifications in response thereto;notifying the user of another unanswered communication with the missedcall notification element of the video communication device indicatinganother unanswered communication to an individual unique identifierassigned only to the video communication device and not the user group;and clearing the missed call notification element from the userinterface responsive to receiving a third clear indicator if theunanswered call is acknowledged at the video communication device, andwithout informing the remote server to clear any missed callnotification elements for the additional video communication devices ofthe user group.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the secondclear indicator from the remote server is responsive to a periodic queryfrom the video communication device to the remote server.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein receiving the second clear indicator from theremote server is further responsive to receiving a positive attentionitems indicator from the remote server responding to the periodic query.12. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying a missed calllist on the user interface.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereindisplaying the missed call list includes displaying a first missed calllist showing missed voice calls, and a second missed call list showingmissed video calls.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein displaying themissed call list includes displaying a combined list including bothmissed voice calls and missed video calls.
 15. The method of claim 9,wherein notifying a user of an unanswered communication with a missedcall notification element includes notifying the user through a missedcall notification element of a graphical user interface displayed on anelectronic display of the video communication device.
 16. The method ofclaim 9, wherein notifying a user of an unanswered communication with amissed call notification element includes notifying the user through atleast one of a tactile vibration and a visual light.
 17. A plurality ofvideo communication devices that are assigned to a user group, eachcommunication device of the plurality being associated with both anindividual unique identifier and a group unique identifier by a profileserver, and collectively being configured to: collectively receive afirst incoming video call from a call routing server responsive to thefirst incoming video call being placed to the group unique identifier;activate a missed call element of their respective user interfacesresponsive to the first incoming video call directed to the group uniqueidentifier being an unanswered communication by the user group;deactivate the missed call element of their respective user interfacesresponsive to any one of the video communication devices of the usergroup acknowledging the missed call element of its respective userinterface and transmitting an acknowledgement to the profile server forthe profile server to distribute clear indicators to the rest of thevideo communication devices of the user group; wherein each individualvideo communication device of the plurality is configured to: receive asecond incoming video call from the call routing server responsive tothe second incoming video call being placed to an individual uniqueidentifier assigned only to the respective individual videocommunication device and not the user group; present a second missedcall notification to the user through the user interface of therespective individual video communication device indicating that thesecond incoming video call was unanswered by the respective individualvideo communication device; receive a third clear indicator if theunanswered second incoming video call has been acknowledged by therespective individual video communication device; and clear the secondmissed call notification from the user interface responsive to receivingthe third clear indicator without informing the remote server to clearany second missed call notifications to the additional videocommunication devices of the user group.
 18. The plurality of videocommunication devices of claim 17, wherein each video communicationdevice of the plurality is a video phone configured to communicate witha video relay service for providing interpretive services of ahearing-impaired user.
 19. The plurality of video communication devicesof claim 17, wherein the respective user interfaces are selected fromthe group consisting of a graphical user interface, a tactile element,and a light element.